Digging holes and stitching on a Slow Sunday ...

Hello... is anyone still there? I didn't mean to skip two weeks but Mother Nature finally provided some nice weather and I've been outside a lot ... digging holes... lots and lots and lots and LOTS of holes... and putting plants in them... and I not only planted up my yard but I also did my neighbor's front yard... he asked me last year if I would do it and I said yes... I thought it would be fun to design a layout from scratch... and he paid me... and it was fun to design it but the planting was work... I forgot about that part... and after getting his yard done I tackled mine... marigolds, lantana, lots of petunias and a passel of perennials... in my defense they were a bargain... 1 gallon perennials for $4 each... nice healthy looking plants and quite the variety ... so a bunch of them came home with me.... ummm... about 30... maybe 35... perhaps 40... I lost track...okay to be honest, I quit counting... ignorance is bliss... and lot of plants is happiness!!!  Here are some pics of what I've accomplished....

Rose bed with marigolds....

and my polka dotted chickens are there too...


One of the 5 window boxes...

got a purple and white color scheme this year...

My beloved pyramid of petunias...

13 different varieties of petunias ...


The flower bed with a ton of new perennials...

it isn't bloomed out yet but it should be pretty when it does... ... pink, purple, yellow, red,  orange, white... I do like the gardens with a limited color scheme but I just can't resist using as many colors as I can...there is a ton of different plants here... the pink ones you see now are peonies... I LOVE peonies... and I planted some tall zinnia seeds in there yesterday where those alliums are fading...

One of two pots by my garage door...

the tall poofy plant is a papyrus called Prince Tut... the base plants are small tangerine petunias and some creeping jenny and a little star faced plant I forget the name of...

The little corner by my front door...

I like the idea of hanging baskets this year instead of pots on the steps and if these petunias fade I'll be able to easily replace them... all the perennials at the bottom have filled out beautifully with all the rain we've gotten... don't remember what they are called but love the little yellow flowers...

And this is the front of the house by my sunroom porch  with my bird feeders and my Mother's Day present of a bird bath...

I planted these pots with lots of coleus and some wave petunias ... to the right of the bird bath is 5 of the 10 hollyhocks I planted and my climbing rose bush is in bloom... the flowers are gorgeous but some pest has already made swiss cheese of the leaves...

And then there is my newest grand project...

 it is 4 ft wide and 20 ft long... a raised bed which I'm planning as a cutting garden of dahlias and zinnias...  however, it needs 2.5 cubic feet of garden soil placed in it... which is going to be quite a bit of work... I keep forgetting about that work element as I get carried away by how pretty it will look when it it in bloom... the soil is going to be delivered on Tuesday and so far I haven't been able to find anyone other than my younger son to help me shovel the dirt into the bed... this may take a while... but I will get it done one way or another... I can't wait to get the dahlia tubers and the zinnia seeds in the ground... and I had a revelation the other day... when I moved almost 6 years ago the one thing I didn't want to leave was my garden... and now I'm gardening way more areas than I had there... with all the pics I showed I left out a couple of other groups of plants... I realized I have vignettes outside just like I do inside... it is so much fun to play with color and texture no matter what the materials!


And in addition to the work I've done in the yard I've actually gotten some cross stitch pieces FFO'd... since Spring is rapidly getting away from me I decided I needed to get my LHN Spring ABC's completed....

I mounted it on a Chicken Wire Door Frame from Darice Crafts... I stained it with Rit Teal Dye ...

I  added a burlap bow and some greenery and some paper Prima flowers from my card making stash... now to get my butt in gear and get started on the Summer ABC's... its the only one I haven't stitched... i saw a great version on IG which you can see here... I like her changes of color and making it more Americana... now I need to paint some linen for this piece...

And I finally did something with the half dozen gnomes I stitched this winter... I made them all into little pillows with a base of a pretty calico...

and here's how I displayed them...

the little fence piece was unfinished wood... I picked it up at Michaels and spray painted it ...and the tall gnome is a spoon rest my son found for me ... and here's the rest of the little shelf unit...

I'm having fun finding inexpensive gnomes... I've gotten stuff from the trinity of decor... Hobby Lobby, Michaels and Joanns... and I didn't pay full price for anything... the whole display makes me smile... and an added bonus of painting that little shelf unit spring-y lime-y green is it doesn't show the pollen dust... I'm so smart...LOL

So this afternoon we are all going to my daughter-in-law's parents home for a cookout... I made a pasta salad and some Chinese coleslaw and my younger son made a chocolate bundt cake to bring... tomorrow we are again doing dinner with the new parents and Elliott ... Elliott is growing like the proverbial weed... and is so cute... and yes I am biased... my son has to return to work on Tuesday... that six week family leave sure flew by ... he really loved staying home with his family...

Hope things are going well in your world... I know I'm keeping plenty busy... I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today and see what every one else is up to...

And this Memorial Day weekend we must never forget that we are the home of free because of the brave... we may not know all who sacrificed but we owe a debt to all of them...

take care-
happy stitching-
carol fun